The Mistakes of a Friend
by Nix Wolfwood
Summary: Hermione's going through a tough time and needs her friends, but will they be there for her. Can they help her in time, or are they too wrapped up in their lives to notice her?
1. Default Chapter

**A/N: This story is going to be a bit angsty. More than I've ever written, so bear with me. I couldn't decide to write from Ron or Hermione's point of view, so I'm written from both. I'm trying to decide if each chapter should include parts of the day that happened for each of the two. (Some occurrences will take place during both times, but will have different opinions.) Or if I should write a chapter with Ron's point of view, and a separate chapter with Hermione's. The first chapter is going to be the shortest chapter in the whole story, being only a page long. It takes place after the story, but I thought it would be a good way to start out my story. If you people don't like self-mutilation or anything along those lines, don't read the story. For those of you who do, you freak! I'm joking! I know that this story is going to be a hard topic. It's hard enough to write about. But it's been in my head for a while, so I've decided to just go for it. I hope that you'll like this story so that I can continue writing it. Thank you for taking the time to actually read it, I love you all SO much! AND, I'll love you even more if you review. –Hint-**

**Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters in this story.

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_-Chapter One-_

When one's dreams suddenly seem too far off, their natural instinct is to just give up I guess. But why give up? How can somebody just give up on dreams all together? It's just stupid! Just because your life might suck right now, doesn't mean it always will. It can only get better, right? That's exactly what I want to tell her, but how? So, being the obnoxious jerk that I am I usually just end up ignoring her. And what does that accomplish? Nothing really, I'm just an idiot.

But when did this start, and could I have prevented it? Could her life have been completely altered if I had actually took time out of my life and asked her how she was doing? What's sad is the answer is 'yes', none of this would have happened had I spent more time with her.

It's not that I didn't want to, anybody with two eyes could have seen that. I guess it's just that I was scared. Scared of getting close to her, maybe even closer than I had been with any other girl. Or, quite possibly it was because I'm just a selfish prat and didn't even stop to consider what was going on through her head.

You know, I don't think that I ever once took time out of my schedule to spend time with her. Ask her how she was doing, or see if she needed any help. But, I expected her to help out with whatever was bothering me. When I was behind in some nameless homework assignment it was always, "Hey Hermione, can I check your notes?" or "Hermione, will you help me?" Never, "Hey Hermione, do you want to take a break from your schoolwork and play a short game of exploding snap or wizards chess with me?"

Because of something that seems so meaningless to an average person, namely myself, I almost lost her. Not just the friendship that we had, or actually the friendship she had given to me. I don't think that I ever actually considered her a friend in my head. I just knew that she was there, and assumed she always would be. Oh man, I am such a stuck up jerk! I don't know how many times I have to say that before, I don't know.

I wish that I could just apologize to her, and I have thousands of times. I guess that what I actually hope is that I'll actually forgive myself for the pain that I caused her. The eternal hurt that I know will never leave her eyes. Even if others can't see it, I'll always know it's there. And I'll always know it's my fault. I could have done something to stop it.


	2. Hermione's Secret

_**I've figured out how I'm going to do the story. I'm going to do all the even chapters with Hermione as the main character, and all the odd ones featuring Ron. I'm also going to have the Hermione ones being really angsty, and the Ron one's should be amusing. They'll be telling what's going on when Hermione's not around, or telling what actually happened during the certain things Hermione overhears or something like that. But before I do all of that, read and review this chapter and tell me what you think. **_

_**-HUGGLES-**_

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_-Chapter Two-_

Hermione woke up suddenly, sweating from her dream. Actually it was more like a nightmare. She looked around her room and was surprised to see that everything had changed.

"What's going on?" She jumped out her a bed that wasn't hers and wondered around the room. She didn't even get three feet before bumping into another someone who was sleeping.

"Not yet mum..." The other person grumbled in her sleep. Hermione immediately recognized her voice, it was Ginny. Ginny Weasley, Ron's younger sister. It was then that all the memories of the previous night came flooding back to her.

_"Mom, what are you doing?" Hermione ran over to her mother who was throwing random articles of clothing into a small bag._

_"I'm going away for a while honey, but I'll see you when you come back for Holidays." That was all she said before giving her daughter a slight kiss on the check and running out the front door._

_"Mum…" The sixteen year-old whispered into the nothingness surrounding her house._

_Her father had left almost an hour ago, probably to meet up with the woman he'd been seeing outside of her mother. She was alone in her house, and the feeling overwhelmed her. Without a second to spare she ran up to her room and packed all of her school things into a suitcase and ran to the fire with some floo powder in hand. She stepped into her fireplace and called out "The Burrow"._

That was all she remembered from the previous night. How she ended up in Ginny's bedroom, she had no idea. Hermione wiped a few stay tears from her eyes and pulled on a few articles of clothing before descending down to the kitchen.

She wondered around for almost an hour before Mrs. Weasley appeared in front of her.

"Hermione, dear, what are you doing up so early?" She ran over to Hermione to comfort her.

"Nothing, I'm fine. I'm just a little excited seeing as school starts today." Hermione put on her best fake smile.

"Well, I would be too." Mrs. Weasley smiled back at her, "This is going to be your sixth year. Only one left!" She walked over to the pantry and magically conjured up a few packs of pancake batter.

"Do you need any help?" Hermione asked, walking over to her. She planned on helping, even it Mrs. Weasley declined her offer.

"That's sweet of you, but you don't have you help." Mrs. Weasley tried to shoo Hermione off, but she didn't budge.

"You have about five people that you have to cook for this morning; I think that I should help you." Hermione pushed off Mrs. Weasley's arm and grabbed a few more ingredients for the batter.

"Actually, it's more like eleven. Harry's been staying here for the last week, and the rest of my boys decided to come along as well." Mrs. Weasley smiled at Hermione weakly.

"See, you have no excuse for me not helping you, now move over." That was the last thing said on that matter. The best of the time was spend cooking a few dozen pancakes with toast, oatmeal, and whatever else Mrs. Weasley could think of.

"I think that everyone else should be getting up by now." Mrs. Weasley looked at her clock and saw that everyone's hand was still pointing to 'bed'.

"Go ahead; I'll finishing making the pancakes. Everything else is finished." Hermione pushed her out of the kitchen and she shuffled upstairs.

After Mrs. Weasley left, Hermione set out the table just in time to see Harry shuffling down the stairs. He didn't even say 'hi' to her before falling asleep on the kitchen table. Shaking her head, Hermione placed a few pancakes next to him with syrup on them.

"Get up Harry, eat your breakfast!" She tried to shake him, but he didn't budge.

The next to come down was Charlie. He skipped down the stairs humming a nameless tune. "Good morning!" He called to Hermione as he sat down at the table. "Sleep well?"

She nodded and passed him a plate of pancakes. "What about you?"

"Ah, it was very well, thank you." Before there was anymore talking between the two of them, he shoved a whole pancake in his mouth.

Right before he swallowed the Weasley twins, Fred and George, came down and spotted him. "CONTEST!" Fred shouted as the two boys grabbed their plates from Hermione and started shoving food in their mouths.

Before Hermione could lecture them on their stupidity she heard a scream coming from upstairs. She instantly recognized Ron's voice and ran up to his room. When she got up stairs and opened his door he was laying sprawled out on the floor.

"Ron, are you okay?" She ran over to help him out.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Get off me!" He pushed her arm away and stood up.

"I'm sorry, but…"

Ron cut into her sentence, "Hermione, can you get out of my room. I have to change, still in my pajamas."

"Yeah, I'm sorry. You sure you're okay?" She asked while he pushed her out of his room.

"Yes! Now please, get out!" He gave her one final shove out of his door and locked it.

Hermione was about to apologize, but she heard him saying, "Merlin, sometimes I wish she would just disappear. Never knows when to quit sometimes!"

Hearing that remark, she ran up to the attic. She had discovered it earlier that summer. She and Harry had spent the first week of vacation at the Burrow, with Dumbledore's permission of course.

When she reached the final step leading to the attic, she walked inside and locked the door. "I can't take it anymore!" She cried while plopping herself in the corner and bringing her knees up to her chin.

She leaned her head back against the wall and tried to blank out her mind. Too much had been going on lately, and she didn't want to do the thing she knew that she was about to do.

"Come on," a voice inside of her head whispered, "you know that you want to do it."

"No I don't!" She screamed back at it, but at the same time she found herself reaching into her pocket.

"Don't do it." She repeated to herself as she pulled out a safety-pin from her pocket. She chose this tool to take with her because it was inconspicuous to everybody around her. If they found her with a safety-pin in her pocket they wouldn't accuse her of doing anything out of the ordinary. They'd probably assume it was for the elf-clothing she'd been knitting lately.

She wouldn't listen to her herself, and ended up pulling down her knee-high thick black wool socks. She had been wearing them a lot lately, but nobody ever thought to question that either. After she had pulled down her socks she took a look at her legs, and it brought tears to her eyes. They were covered with scars and slash marks, yet nobody had even begun to notice her problem. She knew she had a problem, knew that it wasn't healthy to tear your own skin. But she did it anyway. It was like she got a high from it, all her pain would go away. Sometimes she even told herself that she deserved it. This time it was a little of both. She was bringing the tip of the safety-pin to her leg, but then stopped.

"I shouldn't do this." She whispered to herself and pulled up her socks. "I need to fight this!"

She silently walked out of the attic and down the stairs, because it was easier to fight the urge in front of other people. When she was halfway down the stairs she heard a conversation going on between the brothers. Not wanting to walk into something embarrassing, she decided to listen in to what they were talking about before going the full way down and into the kitchen.

"You pervert!" Ron yelled out, but Hermione didn't know to whom.

"He didn't say anything," Bill laughed at Ron's comeback. "You're the one thinking about it."

"I am not!" Ron tried hard to defend himself.

"Why? What's wrong with Hermione?" Charlie asked.

"Well, nothing per say, I'm just not attracted to her." Ron growled at his brothers.

"How can you not be?" Fred, or maybe it George, asked him.

"I don't know, why? Should I be?" Ron asked, confused at this point.

"Why aren't you? She's smart, attractive," Percy started to say.

"Stop talking," One of the Weasley twin's cut him off. "If you say something he'll never realize his feelings for the girl." Percy huffed pompously and a rustling of paper was heard.

"I'm just not attracted to the girl. It's not that…I don't have to prove myself to you all. I'm just not attracted to her, she just a bossy-know-it-all, who's always in my business. I don't have a problem with her as a friend, but as a girlfriend? I don't even want to think about it."

Hermione didn't stay to hear more of what was being said, but ran back up towards the attic.

"I should have known!" She threw herself back into her previous spot, wiping the tears from her eyes.

"Yeah, you should have!" The voice in her head called to her. "Thinking that Ronald Weasley could have been attracted to you, he was right, you are a know-it-all. Boys aren't going to be attracted to girls like you, especially not Ron!"

"Shut up!" She cried, trying to push the voice out of her head. "I'm not going to listen to you. You're not real, just a figment of my imagination!"

"Keep telling yourself that, you ugly beast!"

"I'm not ugly, I'm…I'm…"

"Precisely, now do it. You know you want to; you know that you need to do it!"

Hermione started sobbing, but didn't fight her hand as it reached into her pocket to pull out her little tool. She then slid down her socks and ran a finger over one of the scars on her left leg.

"It'll only hurt for a second, its okay. Go ahead!" The voice told her.

She closed her eyes and pushed the safety-pin deep into her leg, wincing for only a second before pulling it across her flesh. After a minute her leg was dripping with blood and she pulled her sock up to her knee to soak up the blood spilling out.

Next she moved to her right leg, going through the same procedure. But by the time she had stuck it in, she heard the attic door opening.

"Crap, I forgot to lock the door!" She hissed at herself as she pulled up her socks, wiped the tears, and went over to the door.

"Hello?" She called, trying to see who was at the door.

"What are you doing up here?" The intruder questioned her.

"I could ask you the same thing Harry."

"Well, I was looking for you." He said slowly, the lie obviously showing.

"Okay, you've found me. So, let's go out of here." Hermione pushed the back of his head out the door.

"What's in your hair?" She asked him, wiping the sticky material on her pants.

"Oh yeah, that's why I came up here." Harry grinned sheepishly. "I fell asleep on the pancakes you put next to me.

"You idiot!" She forced a smile and steered him towards the bathroom. When she reached it she pushed him inside and ran down stairs to the kitchen, deliberately avoiding Ron's gaze.

"Hey Hermione, guess what we found out!" Fred and George said in unison, looked at each other, then busted out laughing.

"You better not say anything!" Ron hissed at them. "Hermione, ignore them!"

"Why?" She asked, highly curious now.

"Just pay no attention to them, they're gits!" He quickly replied.

"No, let them tell me. I'll decide if it's stupid or not for myself!" She pushed Ron out of the way and walked over towards the twins.

"What is it?" She asked eagerly.

"Well, you'll never believe this, but…" Before they could finish, Hermione became woozy, and then finally blacked out.


	3. Ron's Secret

**To my reviewers:**

_hermoine04: Thank you so much! -sniff- No...I love you!_

_HogwartzBoizRHottiez: The first chapter was written in Ron's point of view. I meant to write that, but I guess I forgot. Woops...-shify eyes- Thanks for saying my story is great. I actually didn't expect to get any good reviews for this story. I was just writting it to relieve some tension building up inside of me. You know what, I will continue. Thanks for such a nice review!_

_Lastly, to my loyal minon Shantazzar: Here's your Ron's review. I wrote it with you in mind. That was a joke! I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writting it. It's another six pager, just for you._

**Here you all go…a much needed Ron chapter. It's not full of angst…but is really amused me to write it. I hope it amuses all of you to read it.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own these characters.

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_-Chapter Three-_

Ronald Weasley awoke, hearing something moving around his bedroom. His first instinct was to attack without thinking, but he quickly dismissed the idea and opened his eyes. The room was still dark, thick blankets covered the only window to keep the sun out. In the corner of his room he was a bushy haired wild-woman waiting to attack. So, he did the first thing he could think of to defend himself, he screamed like a little girl.

"Ron, honey, you have to get out of bed." The wild-woman walked over to Ron and shook him. Suddenly the wild-women's features were quite similar to those of his mother.

"Mum?" He asked as she magically spread open the blankets covering his window.

"Come on, I have to wake up everybody else. Get up!" She gave him one final push off his bed, and he toppled into the floor.

"Okay, I'm getting up. Can you leave so I can get dressed?" He mumbled as he untangled himself from his sheets.

"Okay, I'll leave you then." Mrs. Weasley sighed as memories of a younger Ron flooded into her head.

As she left the door Ron moved to close it, but was pushed back by an unseen force. He fell down on the floor and stared at the door to see who, or what could have done such a thing to him.

"Ron, are you okay?" Hermione walked into his room, and seeing him sprawled out on the floor, ran over to him.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Get off me!" He pushed her arm away and stood up.

"I'm sorry, but…"

Ron cut into her sentence, "Hermione, can you get out of my room. I have to change, still in my pajamas."

"Yeah, I'm sorry. You sure you're okay?" She asked while he pushed her out of his room.

"Yes! Now please, get out!" He gave her one final shove out of his door and locked it.

As he shut the door he mumbled a little too loudly to himself, "Merlin, sometimes I wish she would just disappear. Never knows when to quit sometimes!"

He heard her feet patter away and locked the door so as to have no more interruptions.

A little while later he appeared out of his room and headed down the stairs. When he got to the third step something bushy wrapped itself around Ron's leg. Ron, trying to maneuver around it, accidentally stepped on its tail. That just caused it to shriek and sink its teeth into Ron's leg before running off in the opposite direction.

"Crookshanks, you stupid…" Ron screamed at the cat in a too quick reaction. By the time he had realized what he said his mother appeared in front of him with her hands on her hips.

"What did you say young man?" She glared at him with the infamous 'you better pray you didn't say what I just heard you say' glare.

"Um, nothing?" Ron grinned sheepishly, looking around the room for any sign of help, or even a distraction.

"Don't lie to me Ronald Weasley!" Mrs. Weasley walked up the stairs and grabbed him by his hear. Seeing as she's a good three feet shorter than him, she hand to levitate a bit to get a good hold.

"I'm sorry," Ron squeaked, "I didn't mean to. Crookshanks just…"

"None of your excuses!" She screamed at him, "Now, go eat your breakfast before I get really angry."

"Yes ma'am…" He called as he ran off down the stairs as far away from his mother as he could get.

When he entered the kitchen he saw Charlie, his second eldest brother, smirking at him.

"Don't say anything!" Ron hissed at him, and took the empty seat next to Harry who appeared to be sleeping in his pancakes.

"Wouldn't dream of it!" Charlie put his hands up in mock defeat.

Reaching for a plate of pancakes and toast, Ron kept an eye on his older brothers who all seemed to be smirking at him along with Charlie. Well, all except Percy who was too involved in reading _The Daily Prophet_.

"Where's Hermione?" Percy asked from behind the wizard newspaper.

"I dunno," Ron shrugged, "I haven't seen her since she was in my room this morning.

"What was she doing in your room?" Fred, who was suddenly interested in Ron's life, looked at him waggling his eyebrows.

"You pervert!" Ron yelled out at him, throwing his toast. George caught it before it hit Fred's face and covered it up with marmalade.

"He didn't say anything," Bill laughed at Ron's comeback whilst he occupied the seat next to his youngest brother. "You're the one thinking about it."

"I am not!" Ron tried hard to defend himself, his face turning bright red in the process.

"Why? What's wrong with Hermione?" Charlie asked him, taking a bite of George's toast. Well, actually it was Ron's. I'm not going to get into that, too confusing.

"Well, nothing per say, I'm just not attracted to her." Ron growled at his brothers, hoping they would drop this subject. It was making him uncomfortable.

"How can you not be?" Fred asked him, tilting his head to the side so Ron knew he was trying hard to get on his nerves.

"I don't know, why? Should I be?" Ron asked, hoping Harry would wake up and save the day.

"Why aren't you? She's smart, attractive," Percy started to say.

"Stop talking," George cut him off, "If you say something, he'll never realize his feelings for the girl." Percy huffed pompously at that comment and returned back to reading his paper.

"I'm just not attracted to the girl. It's not that…I don't have to prove myself to you all. I'm just not attracted to her, she just a bossy-know-it-all, who's always in my business. I don't have a problem with her as a friend, but as a girlfriend? I don't even want to think about it."

"De-Nile isn't just a river in Egypt." Charlie grinned at him, causing the twin's to burst out laughing.

"I do not have a thing for Hermione!" Ron screamed, causing Harry to suddenly awaken.

When he did all the Weasley boys saw him staring towards the staircase with his jaw hanging down to his knees. And was that drool coming out of his mouth? The boys, all being nosey, or curious, whatever you want to call it, (As long as it's not Bob) followed Harry's gaze to, Ginny. She was wearing a cute baby blue sundress, with her hair tied back in a sport pony-tail.

"Ginny? What are you wearing?" Ron screeched, running to his sister and covering her up with their dad's work robes.

"What's wrong with it?" She screamed back, trying to throw her older brother off of her.

"It shows too much, you can't wear that in public!" Ron told her matter-o-factly.

"Charlie," Ginny whined, "Tell Ron he's being a git!"

"Sorry Gin," Charlie shrugged, "I agree with Ron on this one."

Ginny squealed and looked at her other brothers for help. They all had given her almost the same exact answer, but in their own way. Her twin brothers on the other hand were working at blocking Harry's view of their little sister.

"MUM!" She screamed up the stairs, "Your sons are being smeg heads!"

Mrs. Weasley all of a sudden apperated in front of the boys and looked at Ginny, almost immediately understanding what was going on.

"Ron," She brought her chin down to her neck and stared at him out of the tops of her eyes. "Let me see what your sister is wearing. I'll be the judge of it."

Ron pulled of his dad's robe and waited for his mom to force her upstairs to change. Which was exactly what she didn't do. Instead, she complemented Ginny on the outfit.

"What's wrong with it?" She looked at the boys, waiting for a decent response.

"Look at it!" The twins said in unison.

"I am! It looks very nice on her, and modest. It doesn't show off anything that it shouldn't be." Ginny smiled smugly at the boys when her mom wasn't looking.

"But mum," Bill cut it, "The boys at her schools will get thoughts from it!"

"What sort of thoughts?" Mrs. Weasley asked.

"You know, THOUGHTS…"

Mrs. Weasley stared at him a little confused before she realized hat he was talking about. "And how do you know about these thoughts?" She folded her arms across her chest and raised her eyebrows.

"Did I say thoughts?" Bill squeaked out, "I meant…um…nothing. Yeah, that's what I meant."

"That's what you better mean!" She glared at him and the rest of the boys, telling them to leave her alone saying, "If I catch one of you trying to put a lengthening charm on it, I will not hesitate to take you over my knee and spank you. Is that clear?"

They all nodded, and she vanished up the stairs.

"You are all gits!" Ginny hissed at them all, sitting at the table on the other side of Harry, who was now very much awake.

"Are not," Percy cut in, "We just don't want you to do something you regret."

"Says the hypocrite…" Fred mumbled under his breath.

"I heard that!" Percy glared at his younger brother.

"You were supposed to!"

"Don't change the subject!" Ginny roared. "I want to know what is wrong with this dress!"

"I don't have a problem with the dress," Charlie put his input in, "I like the dress. It's a very nice dress. It's just you. I don't like you in that dress."

Ginny glared at him, a little hurt from that comment, "And what is wrong with me?"

"Nothing!" Charlie quickly said, just realizing that he hurt his little sister's feelings.

"That's the problem!" Ron told her. "You look great in it, and I don't want other people to notice that."

"Yeah, what he said." George replied.

"Exactly," Fred muttered, "We'd have no problem with it if you didn't develop so much in the last year.

"So, it's because of my breast?" Ginny squealed. "You want me to be flat all of my life?"

They all nodded and she turned towards Harry. "Do you mind my breasts?"

He turned beet red, and wise chose not to answer her, putting his hand through his hair and feeling it was full of something sticky. "Um, I have to go take a shower." He replied and ran upstairs before any of the Weasley boys, or young men as they like to be called, hexed him for thinking improper thoughts of their baby sister.

After Harry ran upstairs, the conversation went back to Ron's thoughts on Hermione. Which of course, Ron was not included in this conversation.

After almost five minutes of guessing the wild dreams Ron must had about Hermione he finally spat out. "When I dream of Hermione nothing like that happens." After grasping what he has just said, he clamped his hands over his mouth.

All of his siblings, including Percy, stared at him. He finally admitted that he had a thing for Hermione. Maybe not with words, but the actions he was making at that moment. And what's worse, Hermione picked the worst time of all to come bounding down that stairs.

"Hey Hermione, guess what we found out!" Fred and George said in unison, looked at each other, then busted out laughing.

"You better not say anything!" Ron hissed at them. "Hermione, ignore them!"

"Why?" She asked, highly curious now.

"Just pay no attention to them, they're gits!" He quickly replied.

"No, let them tell me. I'll decide if it's stupid or not for myself!" She pushed Ron out of the way and walked over towards the twins.

"What is it?" She asked eagerly.

"Well, you'll never believe this, but…" Before they could finish, Hermione became woozy, and then finally blacked out.


	4. Hermione's train ride

**Yay, its another chapter! (And there was much rejoice!) This is a Hermione chapter, but it's not like the last one. A little bit less angst. The angst isn't over though...not even close. I'll make sure to add some more angst in chapter six. This chapter contains my favorite Harry Potter pair. See if you can spot them out. The winner will get an invisible tasteless cookie mailed to them in an invisible envelope.

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_-Chapter Four-_

When Hermione came to she saw a huge group of red blobs floating just above her head, with one black blob standing out.

"She's come to," One of the blobs called out to her, right before turning into Mr. Weasley.

"What?" Hermione called, but was quickly hushed by the Mrs. Weasley shaped blob.

"Okay everyone, back off." Ron called his form wasn't blurry. Her vision had finally come back, and it was just as good as before.

Everybody, who turned out to be the whole clan of Weasleys, plus Harry, backed away from her. Everyone that is, except for Ron. He had to be dragged off by Ginny.

"Everyone into the car!" Mr. Weasley said to get the crowd away from the poor girl lying on his kitchen floor.

"We'll be out shortly." Mrs. Weasley called back to him as her family, plus Harry, shuffled outside.

After they all left her she looked at Mrs. Weasley with a confused look on her face. "Why am I on the floor?" She questioned the woman applying an icepack to her head.

"I didn't see it myself, but judging my all the commotion she took a nasty fall. One moment you were fine, joking around with the Ron, the next you started spinning around and hit the ground. You were out for almost half-an-hour; we were debating taking you to St. Mungo's. Lucky, you come to just in time."

Hermione touched the place where the icepack was placed on her head, and felt a cold nasty bump popping out of her head.

"I can give you a charm to erase that." Mrs. Weasley smiled helpfully.

"Would you?"

"It would be my pleasure. I've had to use it quite a bit with this lot."

Hermione gave her a half-smile and sat up so that her bump could be reached easier.

"Removet dolor." Mrs. Weasley muttered while gently touching the bump on the top of Hermione's head.

"That might be in good use to me." Hermione mumbled to herself, thankful that her healer didn't hear her, or at least didn't think about it.

"Better head out to the car." Mrs. Weasley helped her up and steadied her as they walked to the car.

When they arrived outside she saw Harry, Mr. Weasley, Ron, and Ginny sitting in the car waiting for the two of them.

"Where's everyone else?" Hermione asked, forgetting a certain privilege that of-age wizards had.

"They all apperated to the station." Ron informed her as the climbed into the back of the car and seated herself between the two youngest Weasleys.

"Oh, I guess I must have forgotten about that." She gave him a weak smile and buckled herself into the seat.

They arrived at the station a little early, giving them enough time to run through the barrier, and maybe even have a compartment to themselves.

Mr. and Mrs. Weasley bid the Golden Trio farewell, and went over to meet the boy that was claming to be Ginny's boyfriend. The other six Weasley's were already over there 'talking' to him. Judging my Ginny's face, it wasn't a pleasant topic.

"Come on," Ron grabbed Harry's arm and pulled him onto the train, completely ignoring Hermione. "I want to get to the last compartment before someone else does."

"I'm just going to be a minute." Hermione informed them, and she turned around and looked around for somebody.

"Like Malfoy." Harry replied obviously not hearing Hermione's comment, and they both shuttered.

"Did you hear me?" She called to them while they were now heading towards the train.

"You know, I had almost forgotten about him. You just had to bring him up..." That was the last Hermione heard them say before they boarded the train.

"Wait up!" She called to the two of them, but they didn't even look back. "Just like a boy." She mumbled to herself while trying to carry her suitcase, which seemed to gain an extra twenty pounds.

She struggled to pull it up to the train, without any help being offered. "I'm not the type of girl that has a knight in shinning armor watching over me." She bit her lip and sighed to herself.

"Talking to yourself Mudblood? I knew you'd crack soon enough." A snobbish voice was heard coming from the opposite side of Hermione.

"Go get a life Draco." She rolled her eyes at the pest standing next to her.

"I have one, thank you. And I've very grateful that it had very little to do with you, Potty, or that family of weasels." His lips went dangerously thin, as if they were about to disappear right off of his face. And could his hair fit anymore gel in it?

"As am I." She replied coolly.

"Could you move, you're blocking my way." He glared his eyes at her and folded his arms around his waist.

"I would, but I seem to have a problem getting my suitcase up, so you'll have to wait a second."

"Here, let me help you." He grabbed her suitcase and threw it off behind him.

"Malfoy, you arse!" She yelled at him while running to her belongings. He, of course, chose not to respond to that comment and entered the train.

A short while later Ron exited and walked over to Hermione with his suitcase.

"Couldn't get a compartment?" She asked him, still trying to drag the heavy suitcase.

"No, we got one. This is just your suitcase, and I was returning it to you." He put it down next to her, took his, and boarded the train again.

It seemed like he was running away from her. "Probably still annoyed of me for this morning." She reached down and was almost pleased that it wasn't nearly as heavy as the one that turned out to belong to Ron.

It wasn't long before Hermione walked to the back of the train. She tried to open the compartment door, but it was locked for some odd reason. She knocked quietly on the door, but there was no response so she knocked a bit louder.

"Come on guys, it's me, Hermione. Let me in." There was still no response coming from inside the compartment. She couldn't even hear anyone or anything moving inside.

"Can you at least take my suitcase, I have to get Crookshanks." There was still no response, so she reluctantly went off to find another compartment.

Stopping at the only empty one in the whole train, she entered and put her suitcase down. Hermione turned to leave and bumped into Neville in the hallway. "Hey!" She called to him.

"Hermione," He called back, happy to see her, "How was your summer."

"Not at all what I wanted it to be." She shrugged.

"I know the feeling. Um, can I come into your compartment?" He asked her, a little embarrassed. His face was turning a slight red in complexion.

"Yeah, sure." She smiled at him, "But can you watch my bag? I have to get my cat."

Neville nodded and she ran off the train and took her cat from the arms of Mrs. Weasley.

"Thanks for holding him." They hugged and said their last 'good-byes' before Hermione had to go back to the train.

She took the long way to her compartment and tried to get into the back one, where she once more failed in doing so. Her shoulders hung in defeat she walked back to the compartment shared with Neville. It now possessed four other bodies. Judging by the lack of suitcases they held, only one of the four intendeds to stay.

"Hi." Hermione called out, a little confused by the people sitting in her quiet compartment.

"Hey!" Ginny waved at her. "I came by to check on you. Neville said you'd be back soon." Seeing Hermione stare at the other three people she decided to explain the presence of them. "I brought Dean with me while I looked for you, and Seamus followed me. Luna was here when I got here."

"I invited her in," Neville grinned sheepishly, "Do you mind?"

Hermione shook her head and told Ginny she was fine so that the additional bodies would leave the compartment and give her breathing room.

After they left Hermione turned and smiled at the newest member of the compartment. "How was your summer Luna?"

Sighing dreamily, Luna nodded in response to Hermione's question.

Hermione raised her eyebrows and looked at Neville, hoping her knew what she was talking about.

Neville though, didn't take the hint and went on to tell Hermione about his summer. He had no problem sharing the affairs of his parents with her, because she's already seen. He assumed it didn't affect their relationship.

Hermione sat up attentively as Neville explained the problem that his dad was facing at St. Mungo's. "He used to be an auror, as you know. Anyway, he just started attacking the Healers. For no reason at all. They suppose he thinks they're Death Eaters. He might be remembering the night that he was attacked."

Hermione bit her lip and looked at him in pity. "I'm so sorry Neville. How's your mum?"

Neville shrugged, "Not much to say. She's basically the same as the last time you saw her."

Hermione moved her gaze from his face down to his hand and saw that it was linked in with another one. She squinted her eyes to get a better look and asked, "Are you two?"

Before she could finished Neville grinned and nodded. "Yeah, we got together at the beginning of summer. Gran heard me talking about her a lot and invited her to stay for an afternoon. Gran informed Luna that I had a crush on her, which needless to say, embarrassed me. But it turns out Luna liked me too. So we did a lot of visiting over the summer."

"Well, congratulations!" Hermione smiled at them, although a little jealous. She quickly covered it up inside and left them alone to themselves while she read a book for the rest of the trip.

**

* * *

As you all may have figured, a Ron chapter is up next. I can wait to write that one. Just try to guess what was up with him ignoring Hermione. You'll probably not guess it, but if for some strange reason you do, I'll make sure to inform you by the time that I post chapter five.**


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